Abstract: This article explores the questions of creation and development of legal base of formation of local public authorities in the rural areas in the years of the Russian Civil War. Based on the analysis of a wide range of sources, the peculiarities of instructions and provisions for holding village council elections, congresses of volost councils, the composition and role of election commissions in these campaigns are disclosed. Stability in application of the legislation in the course of holding re-elections and congresses of local councils comes with the end of the Russian Civil War. Based on the analysis of the legal framework, the author comes to the conclusion that the Bolsheviks attached great importance to the creation of local bodies of state power, not only as the political basis of Soviet statehood, but also as the base for mobilizing material and human resources during the Russian Civil War.